Infamous vegan activist Tash Peterson has declared she hasn’t ruled out another storming of Fyre restaurant as she awaits charges for her recent disruptive protests at the northern-suburbs venue.
Speaking to New Zealand radio host Heather du Plessis-Allan on Tuesday, Ms Peterson said would “possibly” return to the scene of her clashes with celebrity chef and pork-specialist Johnnie Mountain, who banned all vegans from his establishment last month.
When asked if she was going after Mr Mountain in retribution for banning vegans at his restaurant, Ms Peterson told the radio host: “I will never stop speaking up for non-human animals. Whether I go back to his restaurant, that’s a possibility, but I’m always going to be targeting places that are contributing to the largest holocaust in history.”
Her protests at the restaurant with a handful of other local activists, including her boyfriend Jack Higgs who films her antics, involved displaying confronting audio and footage of what she claims is legal and widely practiced commercial pig slaughter.
She denied she was targeting Mountain because of his controversial vegan ban.
“I’m there on behalf of the non-human animals who are subjected to rape, enslavement, torture, abuse and murder. It’s got nothing to do with him banning vegans,” she said.
“No, I didn’t (ever protest at his restaurant before the ban), I just leveraged that opportunity of him announcing he was banning vegans to bring light to the animal holocaust.
“I don’t really mind at all (that he assaulted me), it’s nothing in comparison to what non-human animals are subjected to.
“He’s not the victim in this situation and nor am I, it’s the non-human animals.”
Mr Mountain told The West Australian his lawyers were going to serve a “trespass notice” on Ms Peterson later this week in an attempt to deter her from future protests.
“She’s just clutching at straws, desperately trying to get another 15 minutes of fame. Her only motivation is to increase her subscriptions on OnlyFans,” he said.
“She pulls in $40,000 a month… I’ve looked it all up. She makes nearly as much as me… she just doesn’t have to get out of bed for it.
“There’s procedures in place to make sure she never comes back, she won’t even be allowed to come to the shopping centre.”
But the controversy has also been a publicity boon for Mr Mountain, who says he’s “run off his feet” with bookings and plans to further captialise on the stoush with merchandise.
““It’s been mental, I’ve got 66 in for dinner tonight… on a Wednesday… normally I would only have four or five tables booked,” he said.
“We’ve got merchandise coming out soon, with some phrases from Tash, and her image on singlets, shirts, hats and hoodies.
“It will be live on our website this week. People have said they want to support me, so they can do it this way.”
While Ms Peterson and Mr Mountain have both made official statements regarding both incidents at Fyre, a WA Police spokesperson told The West Australian no one had yet been charged in relation to either incident.
But the provocative animal rights campaigner and OnlyFans creator went on to make claims in a video on her Facebook page that Police turned up to Mr Higgs’ home on Friday evening wanting to speak with the couple.
She said while investigations were ongoing, officers were looking to serve them both with court summons for offences including disorderly conduct, trespass and refusal to leave a licensed venue in relation to the first disruptive protest where they entered the restaurant.
Mr Higgs brought into question whether there was enough evidence to charge him with refusal to leave, claiming he had been forcibly removed from the restaurant before being requested to leave.
Ms Peterson will jet off to Europe on Saturday for an activism tour on which she has been granted permission to appear in Perth Magistrates Court via video link on July 31 to learn her fate on three allegations.
She plead guilty to failing to leave a licensed venue and not guilty to disorderly conduct relating to a blood-splattered protest at Outback Jacks in Northbridge in June 2022, and guilty to a third trespass charge for chaining herself to a cattle ring at the Perth Royal Show last year.